Feast of First Fruits, Leviticus 23:9-14, (Part-3)
Introduction
The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson Palisades are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in northeast New Jersey and southern New York. Around the turn of the 20th century there was a great conservation effort to preserve this beautiful landscape. The famed philanthropist, John D. Rockefeller had a major role in purchasing much of the land which is currently a nature preserve. The land was up for grabs by investors, nature enthusiasts; there was even a plan in place to relocate the famous “Sing Sing” prison in New York to the area. At one point, while there was pending a bill which had been introduced into Congress to preserve as a military park the splendid and picturesque Palisades of the Hudson, the work of their destruction went forward with great rapidity. The snorting drills which pounded all day long, eating holes in the cliff-top for the explosives, were operated by a large engine, protected by an unpainted shed. This unsightly building added to the hideousness of the scarred and mournful scenery. Within a month the force of men employed was increased from seventy-five to one hundred and eighty, and the demolition went on at a disheartening rate. Heavy boulders, torn from the crags above, were blasted into fragments every few hours, and scores of men were employed loading and sending to the crusher carloads of the rock to be pulverized for road-making. Eventually, In June 1983, the Palisades were designated a National Natural Landmark by the National Parks Service and it is a place which one day in the near future I plan to visit.
At the time when Congress hesitated and the work of destroying this beautiful national treasure sped forth, much damage was done to the site. Indeed, the machinery of industry nearly destroyed this most unique of landscapes. As Congress hesitated to set aside the best for future use and enjoyment, the teeth of industry were eating away one of our most beautiful national treasures. A spot which should be one of nature’s most beautiful pictures became for years, an eyesore, a sordid scene of desolation. How sad that Congress waited so long!
How much more sad it is that so often we, who have received God’s best in Christ, hesitate to give God our best, our firstfruits, the best of the harvest of our lives! Even while there is still day in today, let us not hesitate, may we let go of indecision, abandon our innate propensity to waiver, and give God our best!
Transition
The love of Christ hath a height without a top, a depth without a bottom, a length without an end and a breadth without a limit. “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20 NIV) Christ is the ultimate prophetic fulfillment of the Feast of Firstfruits.
He is our redeemer and our King. The long and the short of it is that the Christian life is defined no by what we do, but by what God has done for us in Christ! When we unravel all of the complexities of Christian Theology, Biblical interpretation, and move to the place of practical application; our pilgrimage will lead us to arrive only and finally at the foot of the Cross of Jesus Christ!
Exposition
The Feast of First Fruits was celebrated for centuries, as it still is to this day among orthodox Jewish people, and, as I have already stated, finds its ultimate prophetic fulfillment in Christ. He is the firstfruits of God’s salvation. What does this mean?
In James 1:17-18 the Bible says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (James 1:17-18 ESV)
This means that the God of Sovereign provision, the God who knows the beginning from the end, the God who reigns in the darkness and sends the light, the God who comforts in affliction, who sends both the rain to nourish the crop and the storm which brought it, the God who is always God, chose, of His own sovereign and glorious will to secure an inheritance for Himself… in you… and in you… and in me.
Dear Saints of God, don’t overcomplicate the Gospel and let us never overcomplicate our lives. We are not orphans in this life, but sons and daughters of the Most High God of all creation, who has granted us eternal life, immediate connection, and lasting provision through the ultimate fruit offering of His perfect and spotless and blameless Son; Jesus Christ; divinity cloaked in flesh!
On my recent pilgrimage to Israel one of the many profound experiences occurred on the airplane prior to even leaving JFK International in New York.
After I was seated on the huge double Decker airplane which took us directly to Tel Aviv, I noticed a large Orthodox Jewish family making their way down the aisle. Indeed, I was struck by the commonality of our human experience as I watched the Jewish Father wrangle his young children while his wife carried a small infant in her arms.
I heard what was, for me, a familiar Hebrew word being spoken by this man’s children. Abba, and then the rest of the words were lost to me because my mind immediately wondered to the places in the Scripture where the word Abba occurs. These precious little children were calling out Abba, Father; DADDY.
In Mark 14:36, speaking of Jesus whilst he pray in the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of His crucifixion, says, “And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." (ESV)
Jesus was of divine origin. The Scriptures attest that Mary knew no man and that the Holy Spirit had supernaturally conceived Him. His life and miracles attest to the reality of this divine origin. O, the willingness of His disciples immediately following the Resurrection testifies to the reality of His origins and here in Mark the God-Man, the Logos, Immanuel, God with us, testifies to the perfectly connected state in which His lived while on this earth.
Abba, Daddy, if it is possible, take this cup from me that I might not drink of fruit of the vine of sin, the pain of the human condition thrust upon the shoulders of holiness, thrust into the side of grace merely clothed in human flesh. But not my will, but yours be done…
In Romans 8:15 the Apostle Paul writes, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" (ESV) In Galatians 4:6 he writes, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (ESV)
For me, a now a man strong in the Lord, but once a frail boy who knew precious little of his earthly father, these words strike a chord deep within, but for us all, they ring out with the beauty of the reality that we are the sons and daughters of the Most High! We have received the firstfruits of salvation; the grace of God!
We, who were once lost in sin. We, who were once alienated by the inheritance of our father Adam and the fruit of our own hands acting on behalf of our own hearts, have received the firstfruits of salvation; the redemption that is in Christ!
Application
The Feast of Firstfruits finds its ultimate prophetic fulfillment and application in the life and work of Christ. This is plainly evident from the Scriptures. How is it applied in our life? As I have already stated, its beauty is expressed in the Scriptures in redemption that we have received by faith according to God’s overwhelming, superabundant, overpowering, all consuming grace.
Yet, even in light of the weight and grace, there is another, immediate and practical application for us. The Feast of Firstfruits was primarily a harvest feast. It occurred in the spring time in the month of Nisan. The warm climate in the Holy Land grants a bountiful harvest of barley, olives, fine grapes for making what remains to this day some of the world’s finest wines, and of course lamb.
Before the people could partake of any of the fruits of the harvest, however, they had to make a sacrifice, an offering of the first, and the best, of the harvest. Interestingly, the barley field from which the barley for the offering was to be harvested was watched carefully, planted exactly 70 days prior to the feast and watered only by natural rains to ensure that it was pristine, given of the Lord.
“In the Temple the grain was threshed with rods rather than oxen-drawn sledges so that the barley corns were not injured at all. It was then parched over an open flame and winnowed in the wind to remove the chaff. Finally, the barley was milled and put through an intensive sifting process until sifted very fine. According to the Talmud, this sifting ceremony continued until one of the Temple inspectors could plunge his hands into the flour and remove them without any flour adhering to his hands… On the morning of Nisan 16, the firstfruits were presented to the Lord.” (Feasts of the Lord, 79, Howard, Rosenthal)
The barley was mixed with olive oil and frankincense was sprinkled on it. This became the firstfruits offering; an offering made of the best, the intentional, and with a great amount of care given to its preparation.
Herein lays the power of application for the Christian life, now, today!
Conclusion
In Jesus Christ God has given us His best; the firstfruits of salvation; the God-Man, the perfect and spotless and blameless lamb which would have been sacrificed only days prior at the feast of the Passover! Jesus has become our Passover Lamb; the blood which adorned the houses of the Israelites when the Spirit of the Lord struck down the first born of Egypt to punish Pharaoh’s disobedience, was a shadow; a herald; a prefigure of the blood of Christ which covers us!
In the blood of Christ we have received the adoption of God which has granted us access to the throne of mercy as sons and daughters, by which the Scriptures testify that we cry out Abba; Father; Daddy!
The question to which we have now arrived is simply this: God has given and continues to gives us His very best. Are we giving to the Lord our firstfruits, our very best? Are we laying down this life daily that we might pick up the life of Christ? Are we letting go of the frailty of the vain ambitions of this life so that in letting go of that which is temporal, that which will fail, that which will intimately rust, fade away, fall apart, and crumble, so that we might hold on to that which is eternal?
I don’t know about you, but when I am found it is my longing to be found not basking in the temporary fleeting things of this life; but to found in Christ! That no matter what I do or do not possess, I may possess Christ and so possess all things! O, to cast aside a corruptible treasure of limited and temporal value, to be found alive in Him who is of unsurpassable immeasurable worth, eternally existent.
Dear Saints, we who have received all things, we who are called by God a kind of firstfruits, let us not reserve for God a little piece of our hearts which is left over, a little corner of our lives which we can spare; when Christ is at the center of our lives, our lives are centered. In our family, give God the best. In our work, give to God our best. In our finances, give God the best. O, that when a stranger hears of our Christian faith it would be synonymous with honesty, integrity, faithfulness, forgiveness, charity, mercy. Holiness is attainted not by working to please God but by sacrificing the best of ourselves, in light of His great sacrifice! When God gets the first, the best of us, He gives back to us the peace of heaven, the firstfruits of salvation, gift of His constant and superabundant grace! Amen.
